Please check www.denverpost.com/sports for breaking news about Joe Colborne’s decision to sign with the Boston Bruins. A complete story will be available in Thursday’s paper and online.

Based on my research, Joe Colborne is the 13th DU player to leave the program early for major-junior or NHL contracts since 2000, when Mark Rycroft started the trend. The list could grow to 15 within a week or two, depending on the direction sophomore defenseman Patrick Wiercioch and junior goalie Marc Cheverie take. Wiercioch is mulling an offer from the Ottawa Senators, and Cheverie is expected to sign with the Florida Panthers.

Below is our Patrick Wiercioch story that made its debut at DP.com Friday. I wanted to make a clarification to online story, add George Gwozdecky quotes and a little commentary.

To clarify, Wiercioch made a verbal to Wisconsin and was scheduled to become a Badger in the fall of 2009. Now, he will replace inactive incoming freshman David Carle (heart condition) and be a Pioneer this fall, using the scholarship originally pegged for forward Stepan Novotny, who decided to play major junior. (DU will honor Carle’s scholarship.)

I spoke with DU assistant Derek Lalonde on Friday about Wiercioch after getting a tip from a source. Lalonde mentioned that DU coach George Gwozdecky has spoken to Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves — the two were teammates on the Badgers’ 1977 NCAA title team — and there are no hard feelings about Wiercioch’s switch.

“We had a conversation, and Mike and I have an understanding of it all, and how we dealt with it,” Gwozdecky told me.

College hockey isn’t like college football. Teams don’t typically recruit a kid after he’s committed to another program. This seems to be a case of simply wanting to play college hockey this fall, instead of waiting another year. Wiercioch took his three official visits to Michigan, Wisconsin and Denver (November), and obviously realized that, minus Carle, the Pios were in need of a puck-moving defenseman.

He phoned Gwozdecky last week and asked if DU might be interested in replacing him with Carle.

“He made it very certain that he really wanted to be playing college hockey in the fall,” Gwozdecky said. “We, along with a number of other schools, wanted him to play another year of junior hockey and come to us in (2009) . . . He called me and said he wasn’t going to play at Wisconsin this fall, and if we were interested . . .”

Wiercioch had a terrific second half of the season for the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League, obviously impressing the Ottawa Senators, who selected him with the 42nd overall pick in June.

“We were well aware of his dramatic contribution to his team and their playoff season,” Gwozdecky said. “He really developed in the second half of the season. Sometimes it’s hard to project when a guy is going to be ready, but we think he’s ready and he’s bound and determined to play college hockey in the fall, and he’s going to be with the Pioneers. So that’s great.”

The commentary is this: Very nice late pick-up by the Pios. A kid of this caliber is so hard to find this time of year, and DU was fortunate to present the ideal opportunity for Wiercioch. Secondly, let’s just hope he turns out better than former NHL second-round D-men T.J. Fast and Keith Seabrook, who both bolted Denver for major-junior long before reaching their potential. Fast left in January 2007 during his sophomore season; Seabrook about six months later after his freshman year.

ONLINE STORY:
The University of Denver hockey team landed a stroke of good luck Friday when Patrick Wiercioch signed a letter of intent to play with the Pioneers next season.

Wiercioch had a verbal agreement to play with Wisconsin. But when DU defender David Carle left the program two weeks ago because of a heart problem, Wiercioch saw that opening and decided to take it.

Wiercioch visited DU in November. He also visited Michigan and Wisconsin and eventually decided to play with the Badgers.

Wisconsin was deep with defensemen, so Wiercioch switched to Denver for a better opportunity for ice time.

DU believes Wiercioch’s arrival is a windfall. He was a second-round pick, 42nd overall, in the NHL Draft, by Ottawa via Chicago.

“I just think it’s a simple case of how much he developed over this past season and his draft status,” DU assistant coach Derek Lalonde said. “He wanted to get his college career going. He was in search of someone and obviously heard of the David Carle situation. We had an opening and are ecstatic and fortunate to find this kind of player at this time of the recruiting process.”

Carle, 18, brother of former DU star Matt Carle of the San Jose Sharks, withdrew from the NHL draft and left the Pioneers after being told by doctors that he has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart that has been linked to sudden death for athletes.

Carle was expected to be taken in the first two rounds of the draft. And he will still attend DU as a student.

To follow up on the Tyler Bozak post last night . . . let’s talk DU overall. We know with Bozak returning, plus 10 of the top 12 other forwards — plus possible NHL No. 1 rounder Joe Colborne coming in — the Pioneers are going to be experienced and deep up front.

I like the back line, too. Indeed, senior Andrew Thomas and Chris Butler (signed with the Sabres) are going to be missed, and Butler would have been an all-everything guy as a senior, but the Pioneers have what amounts to 2 1/2 studs coming in on the b-line. (I put it that way because one of them might be a sophomore in October.)

Freshmen-to-be John Lee and David Carle are blue chip all the way, and don’t forget freshman/sophomore John Ryder, who only played eight games last season before breaking his wrist. Ryder, who came in a year early because of Keith Seabrook’s 2007 summer departure, is going to be a great player, and he might recieve a medical redshirt and re-do his freshman season.

So think about it. DU still has seniors-to-be Patrick Mullen and J.P. Testwuide, who both can skate the puck end to end, and junior-to-be Cody Brookwell (a big, defensive kid) and sophomore-to-be Chris Nutini (ditto), plus soph-to-be Jon Cook (unproven).

I like the look of the corps. Lee and Carle will play right away, because they’re full scholarship, and if they’re as good as advertised, there could me a nice mix with this group, and depth.

So, we’ve covered the forwards and D. What’s the biggest key about the 2008-09 Pios? Yep, goaltending. Freshman Marc Cheverie didn’t get much of a chance last season, but he’ll be The Man beginning in October. The classy Pete Mannino officially handed the GT reigns to Chevie at Friday’s banquet, saying that Chevie has all the tools to give DU a chance to have a very good team.

Star defenseman Chris Butler is leaving the University of Denver early to sign with the Buffalo Sabres.

The junior took a physical today in Buffalo and is scheduled to return to Denver on Sunday.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Butler said by phone from Buffalo. “But it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I got along so well with the guys, such a strong bond. I didn’t want to let anyone down. But I had a lot of support with the decision. They told me they didn’t think I was letting them down or anything.”

Butler, who likely would have been captain next season, is the fourth player — third junior — in the past three years to leave DU early to sign an NHL deal.

Butler will complete the school year at DU, and he promised his grandmother he would complete his bachelors degree within the next two years.

“It was tough,” said Butler, who was drafted by the Sabres in the fourth round in 2005. “I’ve enjoyed every minute at Denver. And the guys and the coaching staff — everyone, from the strength coach to the administrators — are very special to me.”

Named to the All-America second team Friday, Butler was the Pioneers’ best defenseman and two-way player. He had 17 points (three goals) this season, and had a team-high 110 blocked shots and a plus-10 rating.

He was the quarterback on the No. 1 power-play unit and a key penalty killer. He also led DU in minutes per game.

Butler joins Matt Carle (San Jose Sharks), Ryan Dingle (Anaheim Ducks) and Geoff Paukovich (Edmonton Oilers) in leaving DU after their junior season. Two years ago, Paul Stastny signed with the Avalanche after his sophomore season.

The Pioneers also lost defenseman T.J. Fast and Keith Seabrook in the past 15 months to the Canadian Hockey League (major-junior).

MY THOUGHTS: Chris is a great guy that probably would have been captain next season and a preseason All-American and Hobey Baker Award candidate. But he took his time with the decision and got plenty of thumbs-up from his teammates at Denver. The Pios will miss him, and not just because he’s their best two-way player. He’s a great leader and a stand-up guy, always very good with me and other scribes. He’ll make a great NHLer, and we should be proud of him. He had a nice career at DU and I think he’s ready for the next step. — MC

I must admit, this Brock Trotter stuff is getting on my nerves. I love breaking news, but this saga is getting old. I’m really looking forward to a resolution, but until then we’ll continue to follow leads.

My latest, and perhaps greatest, lead is that DU’s (former?) leading scorer is following the path of other Denver-recruited Western Canadians to split for major junior.

Matt Pettinger of the Washington Caps did it in 2000, T.J. Fast a year ago and Keith Seabrook last summer. Now, it appears Trotter is trying to hook on with the Kelowna of the WHL, but reportedly can’t play in the Canadian Hockey League system because he missed the Jan. 10 deadline (Trotter last played for DU Jan. 19 against Bemidji State).

A reader from Manitoba, near Trotter’s hometown of Brandon, wrote me that he heard a radio station talking about Trotter trying to hook on with Kelowna, which apparently holds his rights. But Regan Bartel, the radio guy for the Rockets, broomed that on his website.

My take: Trotter did or said something at DU, or didn’t like what was done or said to him, and he took off, exploring his options — and DU is waiting to see if he lands a deal or decides to return. (Wouldn’t that be weird?)

THIS JUST IN: DU’S HOCKEY MEDIA GUY SAID THE PROGRAM LIKELY WILL ANNOUNCE TROTTER’S FATE WITH THE PROGRAM TODAY!

In the sake of fairness, I offer some quotes from DU defenseman and captain Andrew Thomas about Trotter’s character:

“He’s part of our family. I live with him, along with a couple other guys on the team. Brock is a good kid. We always bring in character kids. We’ll bring in a character kid over a skilled kid any day of the week. That’s what our coaching staff always emphasizes, that’s why we’re here. It was never a case of his personality or any of that.”

The DU hockey team will use a patchwork lineup against Sacred Heart and Dartmouth/Northern Michigan in the Dec. 28-29 Denver Cup at Magness Arena.

Linemates Tyler Ruegsegger and Rhett Rakhshani, part of the Pios’ Super Sophs Trio that includes leading-scorer Brock Trotter, will miss the annual holiday tournament to play for the U.S. World Junior Team in the World Junior Championship at the Czech Republic.

I spoke with coach George Gwozdecky on Monday and, given that he has just 13 forwards – and just 11 for the Denver Cup – he has two choices: go with seven defensemen and 11 forwards, or the typical six D and 12 Fs in unusual fashion.

DU is limited to taking 22 players on the road, and the two guys that have been the extra bodies have been defensemen Julian Marcuzzi and John Ryder. The 13th forward, recruited freshman walk-on Stephen Cunningham, hasn’t played.

George says he’ll play his best 20 players in the Denver Cup, and he hinted that since Marcuzzi and Ryder are among the top 22, they might get first crack at replacing Ruegsegger and Rakhshani.

If that’s the case, the Pios won’t go with eight D and 10 forwards, but instead have Marcuzzi and/or Ryder play up front.

You know, that’s not a bad deal. Marcuzzi, a junior, is a really good kid and Ryder, a freshman that was brought in late — after Keith Seabrook left for major-junior in the summer — is going to play a ton at D in the next three seasons.

It’ll be nice to get them in back-to-back games.

So I view the World Junior duty thing as a plus for everyone affiliated with the local program. Might be different if DU was scheduled to play a national power, but that’s not the case. — MC

Seems to be a lot of interest in Geoff Paukovich and Ryan Dingle, two guys that would be seniors this season if they stayed at DU.

So I’m curious. One, do you think they regret signing early, considering they’re both in the East league after expecting to play in the A? Two, if they had stayed would DU be better?

The latter question also is posed in reference to defensemen TJ Fast and Keith Seabrook, who left for major-junior.

I think Dingle would help DU — greatly — because he could have reached 30 goals and spread out the Trotter-Rakhshani-Ruegsegger “problem” of wanting to play that trio together, but you can’t because the fab freshmen can’t be trusted by themselves … yet. By January, however, I think Tyler Bozak could be as good as Dingle. Bottom line: Missing Dingle hurts now, but won’t later … but of course the Pios would be better off with both Dingle and Bozak.

Paukovich … not so much. DU doesn’t have that feared forechecker anymore after losing Pauko, Steve Cook and JP Testwuide (moved to D), but … I don’t think Paukovich would have been happy being the team’s seventh or eighth goal scorer. I see him on the PP, but only above the crease. Indeed, I agree with those bloggers that said Pauko’s time to leave had come.

What about Fast and Seabrook? From what I see, the D is solid without two guys that gave up far too soon. ‘Nuff said. — MC

The Pios have lost FOUR players to the pros/major junior since January, and their defections undoubtedly will hurt the team this season. Depth is a concern, but you never know how much the freshmen will contribute. Right now, however, DU has enough forwards to make two above-average scoring lines and enough backliners to put out two solid D parings. After that, there’s uncertainty, but some optimism, too.

I’ll have more on this in the paper in the next week or so, but my take on the four guys that split vary. F Ryan Dingle could have been a preseason all-American/Hobey Baker Award candidate, but giving up his senior year to sign with Anaheim makes sense if you know the guy. He’s very confident in himself and accomplished a lot at DU, leading the team in goal scoring the past two years. He didn’t mind playing this season in the minors, so his expectations weren’t shot when he was sent down from the Ducks camp before their first preseason game. I expect he’ll score a ton of goals in Portland this season and maybe have a cup of coffee with the Ducks in March.Read more…